Georgia Safari News & Updates | Conservation Park Stories & Announcements

There is something about a giraffe that stops people in their tracks. Maybe it is the sheer improbability of the thing–that an animal this tall, this graceful, this quietly confident in its own extraordinary design, actually exists and roams the same planet we do. Maybe it is the way they move, unhurried and deliberate, as if they have always known where they are going. Whatever the reason, few encounters in the natural world leave quite the same impression.

This June, Georgia Safari Conservation Park is celebrating all things reticulated giraffe, and the timing could not be more fitting. The park’s tower has a new member, and she has already made herself very much at home.

Her name is Frannie.

Born on September 10, 2024, at Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, Louisiana, Frannie arrived into the world during a rather dramatic moment. Her birth was closely monitored by the GWC care team as they simultaneously prepared for Hurricane Francine, which made landfall the very next day. Frannie came into being in the middle of a storm, and by all accounts, she has been turning heads ever since. She traveled to Madison to join Georgia Safari’s growing giraffe tower, and at a year and a half old, she already stands over ten feet tall and weighs over a thousand pounds. She has a curious, creative, social personality, and if you visit the park this month, there is a very good chance she will come find you before you find her.

What makes Frannie’s story all the more remarkable is her family tree. Her great-grandmother, Kameel, is believed to be the second-oldest giraffe in North America at 33 years old and serves as the matriarch of Global Wildlife Center’s entire tower. Frannie comes from a long and distinguished line, and the Georgia Safari team is thrilled to give her the next chapter in her story.

The reticulated giraffe species is native to the forests and plains of northeastern Kenya, and southern parts of Ethiopia and Somalia. It is the most distinctly patterned of a giraffe subspecies; its deep chestnut coat is divided into large, clearly defined polygons by crisp white lines that look almost painted on. No two are alike. They are the tallest land animals on earth, and a fully grown reticulated giraffe can consume up to 75 pounds of vegetation in a single day, using a prehensile tongue that can stretch nearly 18 inches to pull leaves from even the thorniest acacia branches.

For those who want to fully take in the experience of these miraculous animals, the Giraffe Suite on the second floor of the Barn offers floor-to-ceiling windows with views directly into giraffe territory. Waking up to find Frannie peering in at you from the other side of the glass is, by any measure, a morning worth getting out of bed for.

Georgia Safari is open daily from 8:30 am until 5 pm, and the park sits just off Monticello Road in Madison, a short drive from Atlanta but a world away from the ordinary.

Go Wild With Us this Summer. Frannie is waiting to meet you, and she is absolutely worth the trip!